The Best Restaurants and Bars in the Lower East Side

Ask a New Yorker what they think of when they hear the phrase “Lower East Side,” and you’ll hear everything from “great bialys” to “fancy boutiques.” One of the most historically rich and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in New York, the LES has transcended its working-class roots and evolved into one of the most fashionable areas in the city, home today to both old-school tenement houses and tasting menu-only hotspots.

While some residents bemoan the loss of the olden days, plenty more are reveling in the downtown renaissance, particularly when it comes to eating and drinking. In the area roughly bordered from the East River to the Bowery, from Houston to Canal Streets (and, lately, creeping even further south), you’ll find young Chinese-American chefs applying classic technique to fusion cuisine; a radical duo dedicated to capturing some of Paris’s neo-bistro magic; a legendary neighborhood appetizing shop’s first entrance into the sit-down restaurant game; and, of course, a New Orleans-themed dive bar with fake palm trees and a leopard-print pool table. Here are our favorite spots to eat and drink in the Lower East Side.

Wildair

Jeremiah Stone and Fabian von Hauske’s nouveau bistro opened to raves last year, and it’s worth the hype: a more casual offshoot to the duo’s tasting-menu restaurant Contra, Wildair boasts an enormous wine list, playful-yet-technically-refined snacks, and a walk-in-only neighborhood vibe. Start with a bulbous hunk of house-baked bread before moving on to the light-as-air fried squid with spring onions and crispy lemons; then go for the beef tartare laced with wisps of smoked cheddar cheese and chestnuts, which has become something of a signature for the place.

Kiki's Greek Tavern

Photo: Yelp

Address and phone:130 Division St (646-882-7052)Website: N/A

Located on a once-quiet, now-bustling strip of Division street near Chinatown, Kiki’s is a supremely cozy Greek joint that attracts a regular crowd of downtown scenesters looking for an affordable, filling bite. The homestyle Greek classics are executed near-flawlessly, including a shell-on sautéed shrimp with ouzo-anise cream sauce, a rich béchamel-draped pastichio, and ultra-thick housemade yogurt with sour cherries for dessert.

Mission Chinese Food

When it opened in 2012, Danny Bowien’s San Francisco export was a sensation; now, in digs twice as large on East Broadway, he and executive chef Angela Dimayuga are able to let their freak flags truly fly, with an expanded menu that incudes new showstoppers like a lotus leaf-and-clay-roasted beggar’s duck (cracked open tableside to much fanfare), alongside old classics such as peanut-laced kung pao pastrami. Don’t sleep on beverage director Sam Anderson’s cocktail menu, either, with inventions like the Phil Khalins—gin, ginger, chilies, kaffir lime and coconut milk, served in a tiny plastic soup bowl with ice cubes.

Mr. Taka Ramen

A relative newcomer to the crowded downtown ramen scene, the sleek Mr. Taka stands out for its pedigree: the chef, Takatoshi Nagara, comes from Tokyo’s Bigiya, one of the first ramen-yas to appear in the Michelin Bib Gourmand guide. Here, his focus is on shoyu (soy) ramen, flavored alternately with yuzu, white soy, or ginger; other interesting variants include a creamy vegetarian version with mashed avocado and soymilk, and seasonal cold lemon ramen with fish broth and whole wheat noodles. Go for lunch, or early dinner; waits can stretch on during peak hours.

Russ & Daughters Café

For 100 years (literally—the original shop opened in 1914), New Yorkers lined up for smoked fish, cream cheese and babka to-go at Russ & Daughters, one of the city’s finest appetizing shops. In 2014, they finally opened a sit-down restaurant a few blocks from the store, serving a sprawling menu of fish-and-bagel platters, egg dishes, and sweets in a gussied-up new space with vintage deli décor. Although it’s slammed for breakfast and brunch, specials after 5:30pm include a killer chocolate babka ice cream sandwich.

Metrograph

This brand-new movie-theater-slash-restaurant-slash-bar is the epitome of downtown cool. The space boasts two theaters screening archive-quality 35mm prints and new digital films, with upmarket concessions (think European candies and cacao-e-pepe popcorn), and, more importantly, a full-on restaurant/bar in the airy upstairs space, with bistro-leaning fare like steak frites with chimichurri and a Waldorf salad with celery root and crème fraiche. Brunch and late-night menus are set to launch soon, too.

Fung Tu

Your grandparent’s noodle joint, this is not: chef Jonathan Wu’s modern Chinese restaurant takes a thoughtful approach to redefining the cuisine, which is fitting for the Per Se alum, who opened Fung Tu on a quiet block in 2013. Though his menu features some left-of-center creations (fava bean curd terrine with pickled mustard greens, bacon and chili oil; “China-quiles,” a take on chilaquiles, with steamed eggs, Sichuan pork sauce and crunchy yucca chips), Wu executes dishes with both restraint and finesse. Get the six-course tasting menu with beverage pairings for the full experience.

Copper & Oak

The name of this tiny (eight seats) bar belies its focus: all whiskey, all the time, with a few other brown spirits thrown in for good measure. There’s no vodka and no cocktails. Just 600+ bottles of whiskey, rye, bourbon, scotch, brandy, rum and tequila in the back-lit, library-esque space, with selections are “printed” on digital menus to save space. This is the place to seek out hard-to-find foreign bottles, including 12-year-aged Japanese Hibiki and Glenmorangie’s 25-year scotch. A small selection of bar snacks (meat, cheese, duck in a jar) round out the offerings.

Nitecap

Located beneath Schapiro’s restaurant on Rivington Street, this subterranean cocktail den from David Kaplan and Alex Day (Death & Co) and Natasha David (Maison Premiere) is the place to escape the riff-raff on street level and settle in for a romantic—if lighthearted—cocktail hour. With a sprawling menu broken into sections like “Firewater,” “Highballerz,” “Shorties,” and, of course, “Nitecaps” (among other cheekily-named sections), there’s plenty to please, and the friendly bartenders are happy to assist should the variety threaten to overwhelm.

169 Bar

Technically named “Charles Hanson’s 169 Soul Jazz Oyster Bar,” but colloquially referred to as simply “169 Bar,” this longstanding dive has a New Orleans circa-1970s-vibe, complete with palm trees, a leopard-print pool table, and blended drinks strong enough to KO a hard-drinking heavyweight. Most of the crowd is there to drink, but the surprisingly large food menu features everything from oysters flambé, to steamed crayfish, to fried dumplings. When the bar runs four-deep on weekends, you can text your order directly to waitstaff to avoid fighting the throngs.

Bar Goto

Rather than churning out endless Old Fashioned riffs like so many new cocktail joints, Pegu Club alum Kenta Goto forges his own ground with Japanese-inspired drinks like the Sakura Martini, a subtle blend of gin and sake with salted cherry blossom, and the barley- and hop liquered–infused Improved Shochu Cocktail, served in cypress box fashioned by Goto himself. These sorts of personal touches pop up throughout the space, from the intricate kimono fabrics on the walls (courtesy of Goto's grandmother), to the cast-iron pans of pork- and seafood-spikedokonomiyaki inspired by a restaurant his mother used to run in the Tokyo.

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